4 former Blackwater guards detained in death of Afghan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Four U.S. private security guards are being held against their will in Afghanistan by the company formerly known as Blackwater after their involvement in a deadly shooting, their lawyer said yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the company denied the allegation.

The shooting and allegations of forced confinement highlight the murky legal world in which private security companies operate in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Blackwater was involved in a 2007 shooting in a busy square in Baghdad that left as many as 17 Iraqi civilians dead and led to the end of its Baghdad operations this month. It has since changed its name to Xe.

An Afghan died and two others were wounded in the May 5 shooting in the capital Kabul, said Lt. Col. Chris Kubik, a U.S. military spokesman.

The family of the dead Afghan man said he and the two others were innocent civilians driving home after work. The attorney for the suspects said they were insurgents trying to kill his clients.

Daniel Callahan, a California lawyer for the contractors, said the four Americans allegedly involved were being scapegoated. He said workers employed by the company were not supposed to be armed.

"Blackwater violated the letter of authorization by giving these guys these guns," Callahan said. "And now they want to put the blame on them so as to relieve Blackwater of the violation."

Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Xe, based in Moyock, N.C., said company employees were not banned from carrying weapons in Afghanistan. "It really depends on the work," she said.

Kubik said he did not know whether the contractors were allowed to carry weapons.

Callahan alleged that the U.S. Army cleared the four Americans to leave Afghanistan on May 12 after completing their questioning. But, he said, they are being held against their will at a company safe house in Kabul, he said.

Tyrrell denied that the four were being forcibly detained.

"What I can tell you is that they have been terminated and have been asked not to leave the country without the approval and direction of the [Department of Defense]," Tyrrell said.

Kubik said the U.S. military in Afghanistan was still investigating the matter and he did not know whether the four had been cleared to leave the country.

The men believe Xe is trying to negotiate a deal in which it would hand them over to Afghan authorities in exchange for official permission for the company to remain in the country, Callahan said.